Top of the Pops 21 July 1988

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby.
Peter Powell: “Good evening! Welcome to tonight's edition of Top of the Pops! It is Europe's most successful TV show! It's non-stop pop! And making his debut on the show, Andy Crane!”
Andy Crane: “Thanks Pete. Good evening. How are you? In studio tonight we've Ziggy Marley, we've Everything But The Girl, but to get things underway over here, the highest new entry this week, at number twenty S-Express, Superfly Guy.

 [20] S-EXPRESS: superfly guy. Andy Crane? The bloke from the broom cupboard? Yes indeed. 1988 is a year of transition. Michael Hurll out. Paul Ciani in. Mike Smith off. Mark Goodier on. Simon Bates goes. Nicky Campbell arrives. It makes sense to refresh the pool of hosts and it makes sense to hire a familiar face from children's television. It draws in a new audience to replace those jaded teenagers drifting out of the habit of watching Top of the Pops. It's not even the first time the series has used children's television hosts as presenters. For a lot of Top of the Pops viewers, myself included, that was the job description for Noel Edmonds and Mike Read.

 

 

 Even if you didn't know who Andy Crane was, it's clear watching his opening link that he's someone with presenting experience. He's assured in front of the camera, compared to the first night nerves of Simon Mayo or the try-hard desperation of Nicky Campbell and the whatever Mark Goodier thinks he's bringing to the programme. I have questions about Peter Powell's statement at the top of the programme. Europe's most successful show? In what category?

S-Express are back in the studio for the third time. I can't believe they've replaced the trumpet player. The other one was better.

 [12] DEF LEPPARD: love bites. On video.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31. Peter Powell and Andy Crane alternate the chart countdown.

[3] EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL: i don't want to talk about it. The Everything But The Girl guitarist looks considerably less like Stewart Lee this time.  It's the height of summer and so Andy Dimond, credited with Design, has settled on a winter wonderland theme for Everything But The Girl. Frosted white trees line the back of the stage rising out of clouds of dry ice. Rod Litherland compliments this with cool white lighting.

[8] THE MAC BAND: roses are red. “The Mac Brand!” according to Peter Powell. This is the performance recorded last week at the end of the studio session for the technical nightmare that was the 14/07/1988 show. Fortunately this bit of the recording seems to have gone without a hitch. They haven't accidentally recorded over the performance with an episode of Perfect Strangers.

One slightly odd coincidence. At the start of their song the Mac Band all mime playing violins. Everything But The Girl had brought along a string quartet for their performance so the Mac Band appear to be pre-emptively mocking them.

Paul Ciani's giant neon construction is back, so it hasn't been damaged in storage as of 14^th July. One of the hand held camera operators uses it to good effect, shooting through the horizontal neon tubes to get a different angle on the band.

[22] ZIGGY MARLEY & THE MELODY MAKERS: tomorrow people. Ziggy Marley's tribute to the ITV children's series.

Ziggy, to answer your questions. Tomorrow People where is your past? That would be the 1970s, I suppose.

Tomorrow People how long will you last. Eight series, 1973 to 1979. I know later in the song you claim the Tomorrow People will last “ten years” but I don't really count the nineties episodes.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11.

[4] MICHAEL JACKSON: dirty diana. On video

[16] KIM WILDE: you came. Recorded two weeks ago, during the studio session for the 07/07/1988 show. Which was why Kim was on hand to give a birthday cake to a startled looking Glenn Medeiros. Thanks to mumu03 for the information. And also for pointing out the mystery that it wasn't Glenn's birthday. 

TOP 10.

[1] GLEN MEDEIROS: nothing's gonna change my love for you. Third week at Number One. This time we get to see a chunk of the video.

[14] GEORGE MICHAEL: monkey. Gary Davies and Nicky Campbell next week.

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: S-Express, Superfly Guy.